Teddy Bear Times

News from Mrs. Gauen’s Kindergarten

August 23,2019

We have survived the first full week of all day kindergarten!!!! The children are beginning to adjust to the routine, although they are very tired later in the afternoon. We are working on building up our stamina! Since we do have a very busy school day, please try to have your child in bed no later than 8:00. The children have enjoyed their lunch time this week and are becoming a little quicker at eating lunch. It’s hard for them to remember that they need to eat while they are talking and enjoying their friends. I am going to lunch and recess with them these first few weeks until they have a better understanding of the lunch routine. Each day this week lunch has run a little smoother!! Remember you can create an online payment system for your child’s lunch via the Westerville City Schools website. Information is on the food services link. 

Welcome to our first edition of the Teddy Bear Times for the 2019-20 school year.  Please watch for this to come home each week in your child’s Friday folder (the red folder).  The red folder is our school wide communication tool. It comes home every Friday with important information for you.  Please review the materials enclosed each week, and then return the empty folder to class on Monday.

 Next week please remember to send in the decorated shoe box that we talked about at orientation night. For those of you who were not able to attend orientation night, each child needs to decorate a shoe box at home and bring it in to school. We will use this for the shoebox reading books we will read this year. I have some shoe boxes if you need one. Send me a note or email if you need a shoebox. You may send in the decorated box any day next week.

We have a six day rotation system called the A-F calendar. You can find a copy of the calendar on the district web page under calendars.  We have gym with Mr. Ahern on A and F days so please make sure your child is wearing gym shoes on those days. (Thank you to everyone who is sending their child to school in gym shoes. It is so much safer on the playground!!! ) We have Art class with Mr. Britton on B and C days. On D days we have music with Mrs. Kinser.  E days it is our turn to go to the school library. The rotation will change throughout the year.

Remember you can also access the class newsletter from my website. Go to the Westerville city schools website, http://www.westerville.k12.oh.us. Then go to our schools and find Huber Ridge and look for the link at the bottom of the page for teacher websites. It was wonderful to meet so many of you during your child’s gentle start and at Kindergarten parent orientation night.  If you have any questions about the orientation packet, please feel free to ask me, either in person or by e-mail (gauenk@wcsoh.org) or voice mail (614-797-7150).  

I have included another note about snacks. As we discussed at the Parent meeting last week, we will be taking a brief snack break each afternoon. It should be a simple snack since we are only taking about a 5 minute break. Your child does not need to bring a drink for snack. 

 If your child qualifies for reduced or free school fees he/she is able to eat breakfast at school for free, otherwise breakfast is $1.25. Kindergarten breakfast begins at 8:50 unless other arrangements have been made or if your child will be eating breakfast with an older sibling. The older students begin eating breakfast at 8:30. Since we have so many students eating breakfast at school, I am encouraging siblings to eat with the older siblings at arrival. 

I hope to see you at our school curriculum night on Aug. 29th, next Thursday.  This will be a time for you to learn about our curriculum, view materials and sign up for our field trips, parties and fall conferences. The evening begins at 6:00 and goes until 8:00. I will give 20 minute presentations about the curriculum at 6:05, 6:40 and 7:05. Please do not bring children to this event. This is an evening intended to inform you about our curriculum and is not intended as a time to discuss your child’s progress. There will be a sign up for the fall conferences held in October at which time I will share your child’s progress with you. Remember if you have concerns at any time or questions feel free to contact me via phone or at gauenk@westerville.k12.oh.us

I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the children, and they are having a great time discovering the wonder of kindergarten. Whether meeting new friends, playing with a new puzzle, or creating with play dough, they are enthusiastic about school!! I have attached a class list to help familiarize you with your child’s classmates. It can be very helpful when your child is trying to remember a classmate’s name. (At least you have some idea of who to maybe suggest as a name!) They are beginning to adjust to our class routine. This week I began introducing the concept of centers and how to clean up and move to the next station.This takes  a few weeks for the children to understand, but eventually they grasp the concept that everyone gets to do a center, just not all on the same day.

We enjoyed reading some of the Pete the Cat books by Eric Litwin and went on a hunt around our school to find Pete during Gentle Start. I also took each child’s picture wearing sunglasses and they are on our Cool Cats door.

This week we read the book Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr and illustrated by Eric Carle. Each day the children have used a different art medium to illustrate their own Brown Bear book. They have used crayons, markers, tempera paint, glue, and yarn. Next week we’ll continue and will use watercolors, cotton balls, washable ink and sponge painting. 

Thanks for all your help these first few days and have a great weekend,

Kathy Gauen

      Next Week’s Centers

Next week we’ll begin using our workboard.  Each day your child’s table group will do two different centers.  They will rotate through the centers, with a different pair of activities each day.  At the end of the five day rotation they will have done all ten activities. 

ABC Center                                                                       Blocks                                              

Matching letters

Art Center                                                                         Computers

We will be making Pete the Cat               I will show the children how to log on to our                 

                                                            Chromebooks and will demonstrate how to use our online         

Numbers                                            phonics program Lexia

Making AB patterns with unifix cubes                              Listening Center

and coloring an AB pattern                               Listening to a story on tape                                                                                                                                                                                           

Book Baskets                                                                    Puzzles

Browsing through classroom library books.                     Floor puzzles and table puzzles

Shoe box Book

The children will color a book and look for words they might know

Writing Center

The children will practice writing their name using a capital letter for the beginning letter and lowercase letters for the rest.